Saving Grace
by ladyjane666
Summary: You are Clay's daughter and after a secret affair you end up giving birth to a little girl named Grace, who was born with "Teller Curse" Gemma puts two and two together and soon Jax learns he has a daughter... a very sick daughter. One-Shot


The hospital room was cold and had that sterile smell that had always turned your stomach. As soon as your daughter was born the nurses and doctors had rushed her away in a frenzy of commotion. Your heart sank as you realized what it meant, _'the Teller Curse…'_ you thought long before the doctor came in to tell you what was going with the little girl that you named Grace.

Gemma had been there since you returned to the room after your c-section, waiting to see her newest "grandbaby", little did she know how true that was. "How long does it take to clean her up?" Gemma said as she shifted yet again the chair the was next to the bed.

"I don't know," You said softly worrying what you feared was actually true. There was a knock on the door before the doctor entered. Gemma sat straight up in her chair and reached over and took your hand knowing it was never good when the doctor came in before the baby.

"Miss Morrow," The middle age man start as he cleared his throat. "Your daughter was born with a congenital heart defect, it's not an uncommon occurrence but the specific type she of heart defect she had tends to be genetic, is there any history of this type of thing happening in your family... or perhaps the father's?" Your heart raced within your chest, your worse fear had happened. Gemma squeezed your hand and look at you with a heavy questioning gaze.

"I don't know… I can't remember.." You stammer and look towards Gemma who lets out a heavy sigh.

"Your daughter is not doing well Miss Morrow, we could really use any information you could possibly give us about the medical history on both side of the family." You look towards Gemma helplessly.

"Her mother died when she was very young, she was a junkie… Her father is out of town on business but is on his way back. We are working on trying to track down the father…" Gemma smiled as she stood up and took a few step towards the doctor. "Maybe my granddaughter would be improving more if her doctor was there attending to her care… it's gonna be a little bit before we can get all the information that you need." The doctor took the hint and left leaving you and Gemma alone with a mammoth sized elephant in the room.

Once the doctor left the older woman turned around, arms crossed in front of her chest. "(y/n)…" She starts as she walks quickly over to you and sits down on the hospital bed next to you. "this is the Teller curse… how does my husband's granddaughter who is _not_ a Teller end up being born with the same genetic heart defect as my grandson and both my sons." Her voice was a shaking, she was scared for the baby, heartbroken for you, and so angry that you and Jax were once again sneaking around behind everyone's backs.

She leaned forward and clutched your other hand so she was holding both of your hands. "I know you and Jax had feelings years ago, I don't understand why and I probably will never. You two were raised like siblings…" She took a deep breath trying to focus herself once more what was important now, your daughter. "If Jax is this baby's father please just tell me, tell the doctors… we worry about the rest of the world later but they need to know."

Tears started to roll down her cheeks, "Yes.." you say softly. "Jax is her father… he ended it before I found out I was pregnant." Your bottom lip quivered as you started to sob. "I didn't tell…" You wailed and Gemma wrapped her arms tight around you.

"Oh baby…" She said softly, kissing the side of your head. She let you cry for sometime before finally asking you "What's my granddaughter's name?" trying to get you to think of something besides all the worse case scenarios running through your mind.

"Grace… Gracie…" It was your mother's name, you could see the look on Gemma's face grow sad for a moment.

"It's a good name…" She says muster a little smile before she eases you back against the pillows on the bed. "I am going to go see if they will let me go take a peak at our little angel, you rest. " You give a little nod and lay back closing your eyes exhausted from your ordeal.

Gemma stays till she knows you are asleep and then steps out into the hall to make a phone call, to her son. The phone rings a few time and then he answers. "Hey Ma,"

"Hey sweetheart," She started, she wasn't going to tell him about the baby over the phone, but she needed him to get to the hospital to talk with you. "(y/n) had the baby, the piece of shit who got her pregnant never showed up and she's all sorts of shook up… she could use a visit and I gotta leave soon."

"Yeah, let me just finish up here and I'll come round to St. Thomas's soon." Gemma gave a satisfied smile before she said her goodbye to her soon and went to go check in on her newest grandchild. They wouldn't let her in as Grace still wasn't stable enough for any visitors even when she insisted she was the child's grandmother.

She sat outside your room letting you rest while she waited for Jax. True to his word, less than 20 minutes after he got off the phone with his mother did he appear in the hallway walking towards his mother. "Hey mom…" He greeted his mother with a kiss on the cheek.

Gemma patted her son on the shoulder and smiled softly. "Congratulations Jackson, it's a girl.." she said softly as she watched a puzzled expression cross his face, no surprise. She chuckled. "Go talk your daughter's mother…" Gemma walked off towards the NICU to wait to see baby Grace.

Jax ran his hands through his hair as he quickly walked into your room. He saw you laying asleep in bed and he let out a heavy sigh. He slowly walked towards the bed and sat down next to you, He pushed a few stray strands of your hair off your cheek causing you to stir. At first when you saw Jax sitting there you thought you were still dreaming. "Jax.." You say softly.

"Hey darlin'," he voice was soft but you could tell he was upset. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"I'm sorry…" You apologize and Jax just shakes his head and wraps his arms around you .

"Don't be baby… don't" He leaned forward and kissed you softly. It was the first time in almost a year that you felt his lips on yours. You take a deep breath as you both break the kiss. Jax's eyes went to the floor. "How did my mom figure out she was mine?" He asked weakly wondering where the baby was.

You take a deep breath and reach out touching his shoulder. "She has the heart defect… she's not doing well…" Your voice cracks as you speak. You watched Jax looks up at you and as soon as you saw his face. The expression of pain and heartbreak that you had seen once and only once before, when Abel was born.

"No.." He groaned softly. The tears started to roll down your cheeks as you tried to lean forward to comfort him but you winced in pain. Jax turned towards you more and placed a hand on your thigh. "Don't push yourself…" He said softly.

"The doctors needed medical histories, your mom was here…" Jax gave a little and you let out a long breath and closed your eyes. "I am so scared Jax… I can't lose her."

"We are not losing our daughter…" He leans forward and places a hand on your cheek. "She's a Teller, we are tough, stubborn and hard to kill…" He was doing his best to cheer you up despite being terrified himself. He took his hand and placed it over yours. "So does my daughter have a name?"

You nod. "Grace." Jax smiled remembering it was your mother's name. "Dad is gonna hate it."

"It's a good name, and fuck your dad…" You chuckle at his words. "I'm gonna take care of her, I promise… no matter what." He squeezed your hand and you just nodded knowing what he said was true. You reached up and touched his face.

"I haven't seen her yet…" You say softly, "They rushed her off so quickly." Jax let out a heavy sigh and he leaned forward and kissed your forehead.

"I'm going to go see about seeing our girl…" He stood up and walked out to the nurses station. He didn't explain who he was, only that you hadn't seen your baby yet. The nurse called down to the NICU and they said the parents could come see her but she wasn't stable enough for any other visitors. He returned with a wheelchair and a smile on his face.

"We can go see her?" You ask suddenly feeling like you had all the energy in the world. Jax smiled and nodded his head as he pushed the wheelchair over next to bed.

"Yup.." He pulled the blankets off you and looked around for your slippers. "Slippers?" He asked and you point to the black duffle bag sitting on the couch in the room. Jax quickly went over and dug through your bag till he found your slippers and he grabbed an old, well warn, black hoodie out of your bag as well. He recognized it as one his and he just laughed. "You still have this…"

"It was the hoodie you gave me when I went to collage." You say as he helps you put it on over your hospital gown before he tosses the slippers to the floor and takes your hand helping you steady yourself as you slip on the fuzzy black slippers. You wince as you turn trying to get into the wheelchair. "She was breach, they had to do a c-section.." You note and Jax nods.

"It was probably better for her in the long run darlin'" You sit down and Jax begins pushing you down the same halls he had pushed Wendy down just two years earlier when he went to take her to see Abel for the first time. The memories flooded back as he rounded the corner and saw your daughter was in the same room Abel had been in when he spent his time in the NICU.

She was so much bigger than Abel was but so much else was the same. The little plastic box that kept her warm, the little hat they had put on head. As you peer through the window at your sweet little baby your heart sinks. There is a pain that spreads through out your chest like your cant breath. "My poor Gracie.." You ball as you put your hand to the window. Jax looks down at your with heart break in his eyes.

He never wanted to go through this pain again and you were the last person in the world that he wanted to put through that same pain. When Thomas had been born just a few weeks earlier, healthy, it brought so much joy to Jax's heart. Now your Grace, the daughter he never knew he wanted was fighting for her life because of him. Some blame for Abel's health issues as baby could easily placed on Wendy's shoulders, but Grace's… he knew they were all on him. _It's punishment._ He thought as his hand gripped your shoulder as he looked helplessly down at the little girl who looked so much like her brothers there was no mistaking she was a Teller. _For all this shit, the lies, the murder._ He looked down at your for a moment. "You know she is gonna be fine darlin', this was Abel's room.." He said trying to muster a smile for you. "It has to me some kind of sign or some shit right?" He kissed the top of your head as he pushed you into the room.

The young nurse smiled softly up at you both. "Are you mom and dad?" She asked sweetly.

"Yeah," Jax said softly, his words make you smile.

"Well, you two have one feisty little lady on your hands." She said trying very hard to make the best of what is a had moment. All you want to do is hold her, kiss her little nose and promise her the world but you knew you couldn't. "It took the doctors and the respiratory techs quite a bit of time to get her to a point that she was comfortable and not working too hard to breathe which is why she is on the vent right now. Without it we couldn't keep her heart rate with in a safe range while the doctors run the tests." Her tone was soft, yet serious as she spoke and you just gave a little nod not really taking in all the information as you were fixated on your newborn's tiny little hand with long dainty fingers. "Other than that, she is actually doing quite well now that we have her settled. It's still a long road ahead.."

"I know," Jax said softly. "I was born with the same condition, so was my younger brother and my oldest son." Jax leaned and kissed the back of your head. "Teller's are tough though…"

"Does she have a name?" The nurse asked softly.

"Gracie Rose…" You start softly.

"Grace Rose Teller.." Jax said with a small smile to the nurse who wrote it down on some paper work.

"Very pretty.." She said before turning back around to you and Jax. "She isn't strong enough for you to hold her yet, but you can hold her hand if you want." You nod quickly the nurse shows you how properly wash your hands before you slide your hand through the oval hole and instantly Grace's fingers wrap around your pinkie.

"Mommy's here baby.. don't you worry." You say softly. "Just rest baby, just rest." Your voice shook as your little girls squeezed your finger tightly making both you and Jax smile.

"You got this Gracie…" and she did.

While Grace fought for her life, her father fought to keep both of his families intact but he knew that wasn't going to happen. He tried to make things right with Tara but they never were again. Jax loved your daughter as much and maybe a little more than the boys in some way but you knew that in her own way her life had caused more upheaval and chaos in Jax's already chaotic life. You knew no matter what things were never going to be the same.


End file.
